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AN ESSAY 



TIMBER PLANTING 



IN 



OHIO. 



By Dr JOHN A. WARDER. 



COLUMBUS: 

NEVINS A MYERS, STATE PRINTERS. 
1880. 



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DEC 28 1903 
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HAS THE TIME COME IN OHIO FOR PLANTING 

FOR TIMBER ? 



BY DR. JOHN A. WARDBK. 



Mr. President and gentlemen, members of the Ohio Agricultural Convention of 1880 ; 

Having been courteously invited to appear before you and to take the 
affirmative in opening this discussion upon the deeply important subject 
of forestry, I present myself before you with the diffidence of one who 
must acknowledge himself a novice in the science, and crave your 
patience during the few moments occupied in an endeavor to discharge 
the assigned duty. 

In the programme for the day appears this query, "Has the time ar- 
rived in Ohio to plant trees for timber ?" 

In attempting a response to a question that is as yet so new to the men 
who themselves have aided in clearing off the dense forests that once 
covered the region watered by the Ohio River and its tributaries, it can 
hardly be expected that one who has worked with his own hands in ef- 
fecting that destruction, nor you who have looked upon the work as a 
necessity, should be prepared to pronounce upon the limit beyond which 
the clearing of the land should not be allowed to proceed; nor is it at all 
likely that you may be ready to accept, much less to adopt as your own, 
all of the postulates and axioms that, on such an occasion as this, might 
be suggested and pronounced by any one who has made systematic forestry 
a subject of serious investigation. 

As yet little or nothing has been done among us in the way of forestry. 
Here and there a few trees have been planted, rather for ornament than 
for utility. The taste for tne comfort and beauty of trees is growing, 
however, and of the thousands who daily travel along our great high- 
ways, few are they who cannot admiringly appreciate the improvement 
by tree-planting about the village stations, the groups of ornamental 
trees clustering around the rural homesteads, the lines of trees along the 
country roads, and on the boundaries of cultivated fields. 

These efforts of individuals to restore the sylvan beauties of the land 
are worthy of all praise. They are well supplemented by the Village 



Tree-planting Associations, happily suggested and successfully carried 
out by Mr. Northrup, of Connecticut, who should have many followers 
in Ohio. Your attentioQ is especially directed to his pamphlet.* 

Under the happy influences of the tree-planters the cemeteries of our 
land are everywhere becoming the quiet resting places of the dead, 
sheltered by umbrageous trees, instead of the forlorn, desolate, and neg- 
lected fields of the past, so unworthy of the title, God's acre (Gottes Aker), 
and so discreditable to our boasted civilization. 

Public and private parks are being set apart for the special culture of 
these beautiful natural objects, and they become the most agreeable re- 
sorts, and are means of instruction for the people. All these encourage 
a love for trees and increase our knowledge of them, and to that extent 
are necessary to forestry. 

In this, however, the people of our country have much to learn. The 
general want of familiarity with our sylvan wealth, either collectively 
or individually, is a matter of surprise to those who have made this 
matter a study. 

Upon this occasion it may be admissible to refer more particularly to 
a single tree, which is destined to become a factor of no mean importance 
in the future forests of our land, and through them to solve one of the 
great problems of the iron road — the cross-tie question, and the future 
supply of sleepers. 

We may be pardoned for having a State pride in this tree, for though 
not a native of Ohio, it was here that the distinctive characters of the 
Speciosa Catalpa, the Western species, were first pointed out and pre- 
sented to the public. It was here that it was first* planted and distrib- 
uted by General Wm. Henry Harrison, who brought it from its native 
home on the Wabash. It was here that its merits as a perdurable tim- 
ber were published by him at an agricultural meeting in Hamilton 
county, when he urged his fellow-farmers, as early as 1825, to plant the 
tree extensively for its great 'value as timber. 

It was in Dayton, Ohio, that its great beauty as a shade tree was 
observed by Dr. J. Haines, who propagated and distributed the plants that 
now ornament the streets of that city. In 1853 it was recognized as 
distinct from the Catalpa of the nurserymen, that had been brought 
from the Eastern States, an'l was then published in a magazine devoted 
to horticulture and rural afifairs,t that was printed in Cincinnati. 



* Tree-planting Economic and Ornamental, and Village Improvemente. By B. G. 
Northrup. 
t Western Horticulturftl Review, Aug., 1853. 



The brothers Teas, enterprising nurserymen, next propagated the tree 
and distributed it widely. Further honors to the Catalpa and to our 
State have resulted from a great devotion to the timber interests mani- 
fested by Mr. E. E. Barney, of Dayton, who has bestowed much time and 
money, in the most disinterested manner, in the collection and diffusion 
of Information* respecting this valuable tree, and in sending out its 
seeds, some of which have reached far distant lands on otker continents. 
From all which it appears, that though itself a native of another 
region of our country, the merit of the introduction of the Catalpa speciosa 
is due to the intelligence and energy of the citizens of our own State. 
Though it is not pretended that we have originated or created a new 
tree, we have presented one to the world that hid heretofore escaped the 
observation and notice of the botanists — a tree of which it is said (by 
one who knows that whereof he doth affirm), '' Every day's experience 
establishes me more firmly in the opinion that it (the Catalpa speciosa) 
will prove to be one of the very best, if not the very best tree in the 
Middle American States, and with a southern limit very far beyond any 
of our Northern trees." 

But let us now address ourselves more especially to the question before 
us : " Is it time for us in Ohio to plant trees for timber ? " 

Yes ! Yes, truly, and most emphatically, my dear fellow countrymen 
of Ohio, the time has fully coim when we, the inhabitants of this glorious 
possession, should, as a duty, plant trees for timber. 

Certainly we already have many warnings that it is indeed high time 
for us to set about doing something toward the restoration of the forests 
which the necessities of agriculture and the advancing wave of civiliza- 
tion have so rapidly diminished within a century of occupation, in 
extensive regions of our noble State. 

The clearing of the land was a necessity for its occupation and appli- 
cation to agriculture. In this matter every land owner must be left free 
to decide for himself and for his own acres. No man nor set of men 
may let nor hinder him from destroying or restoring his forests; nor can 
his movements be controlled by legislative enactments as in other coun- 
tries, since the policy of our republic is that of non-interference. But we 
have also an axiom in our policy, that the best plans are ever those 
which conduce to the greatest good of the greatest number of the people; 
and whenever these may be presented in acceptable form, it is hoped 
and believed that such propositions will receive support. 

So great is the American statesman's confidence in the general good 



• Facts for Information on the Catalpa Tree. 



sense of the people, and in their capacity for self-government, that all 
great questions may be safely left to the popular tribunal. 

When new propositions happen to be presented to the people for solu- 
tion, however, they may sometimes need a certain amount of educational 
training and enlightenment to prepare them for a wise decision. 

The present theme is, perhaps, one of that character to our fathers 
and to many of ourselves, who have lifted up axes upon the thick trees 
and prostrated those princes of the forest which had for centuries reared 
their proud heads and reigned as monarchs of all they might survey. 
Those of us who have laboriously cleared the land of these encumbrances 
have triumphed in the unequal contest, and may well congratulate our- 
selves on having released the fertile soil from its forest thraldom, to re- 
ceive the vitalizing sunshine, and to smile for us with productive farms 
and happy homes, surrounded with luxuriant fields of food-crops for 
man's use, convenience, and enjoyment. Flushed with our triumphs 
over barbaric nature, such may ask, "Why plant more trees and again 
relegate these smiling fields to the bondage of the savageism of the for- 
est times?" 

No! This clearing of our fertile lands is, indeed, right and proper; 
it will go on, and it should continue, for a certain period and to a certain 
extent. Whatever this extent may be must depend upon so many 
circumstances connected with the physical conditions of a wide extent 
of territory, that the problem becomes difficult of solution, and requires, 
for its proper consideration, a knowledge of many branches of natural 
history. It need not now be discussed. Sufficient, that man's exper- 
ience and observations in other regions of the globe will aid us in 
attempting a solution. From these we learn that from one-fifth to one- 
fourth part of any considerable stretch of country should be occupied by 
trees in order to produce the best results in the physical conditions 
necessary for the greatest productiveness of the soil, and for the highest 
development of humanity. Applying this to our own State, let us ask, 
how is it now in Ohio in this respect ? What is the ratio, at present, 
between the wooded and the cleared portions of our State ? The statis- 
tistics ot this important problem are not so complete as we could desire, 
but such as they are, are well portrayed in General Walker's Atlas of 
the United States Census of 1870. 

In his message of last year our Governor graciously devoted a brief para- 
graph to this subject ; a subject indeed, of so great prospective impor- 
tance to the future destinies of the millions who are to tread upon the 
soil of Ohio, that our chief executive, and our legislative bodies, as well 
as the humblest citizen, might profitably make it a subject of laborious 
and continued study. 



It appears that in the course of seven years the area of the woodland 
in Ohio was reduced from about nine and three-quarter millions, in 1870, 
to a little more than five million acres iri*1877. 

This shows that more than four million acres of woodland, nearly one- 
half of that returned by the last United States census, has been des- 
troyed in the brief period of seven years. Should these figures prove to 
be correct, they show a frightful destruction of our woodlands, which 
must be followed, in the future, by their legitimate results of altered and 
deteriorated climate, diminished fertility and productiveness of the soil, 
in some places approaching baxrennees, in the drying up ot springs and 
streams, with irregularity in the flow and discharge of our navigable 
rivers, and, eventually, in the relegation of our fertile fields to barrenness 
and desolation. * "<^ * What has been may again and will again 
recur. The most fertile regions of the old world, when subjected to 
similar treatment, have reached this sad result under the infliction of 
such ill treatment and abuse of God's gifts ; it is but a question of time 
when the sad but inevitable results must follow, and our now fertile 
plains be reduced to deserts. 

The traveler, Champollion, when speaking of the great desert of 
Sahara, in Northern Africa, where he had traced the course of former 
rivers and streams, and had found stumps of trees covered by several 
feet of sand, makes the following remark : " And so the astounding 
truth dawns upon us that this desert may once have been a region of 
groves and fountains, and the abode of happy millions." * * * He 
asks, "Is there any crime against nature which draws down a more ter- 
rible curse than that of stripping mother earth of her sylvan covering? 
The hand of man has produced this desert, and, I believe, every other 
desert on the surface of the earth. Earth was Eden once, and our misery 
is the punishment for our sins against the world of plants. The burning 
sun of the desert is the angel with the flaming swoift who stands between 
us and Paradise." 

The countries bordering on the Mediterranean, on all sides, were once 
well wooded, fertile, fruitful regions, sustaining a dense population. 
With the centuries came the undue destruction of the forests, and the 
consequent loss of fertility, followed by diminished population. Look 
at the famous regions to the eastward — Palestine, the land of groves, the 
land that flowed with milk and honey ; see the adjoining regions, now 
marked by the mighty ruins of Palmyra and the cities of the plain. Be- 
yond these, see the broad fields of Persia, whence Alexander drew his 
mighty armies, and observe the once fertile valleys of the Tigris and the 
Euphrates, where stood the luxurious Babylon, the Great, but Fallen; 



6 

all these once populous regions are now deserted, and, literally, became 
the habitation of bats and owls, in fulfillment of prophecy, clearly trace- 
able to the destruction of the forests! Even in our own favored land, 
here in this New World, these scars upon the face of nature already be- 
gin to appear, and in some places on the Atlantic border tracts of farm- 
ing land are already turned out as unproductive wastes. 

Yes, verily, my friends, it is indeed time that we were thoroughly 
aroused to the importance of this matter of the conservation of our for- 
ests. We should plant shade trees and groves, shelter- belts and woods; 
yes, and where suitable conditions exist, we should also plant extensive 
forests for the sake of their future prospective, but certain benefit to our- 
selves and those who are to come after us. Why will we not learn from 
the experience of past ages, which is everywhere expressed so plaialj'- in 
the history of nations, and impressed so manifestly in the desert scars of the 
earth ? 

Let us take warning betimes and begin now, and at once undertake 
the preservation of our forests. 

Forests are the conservators of moisture, the sources of the streams. 
" The tree is father to the rain," was a favorite saying of Mahomet. 

Then, again, we must remember that time is needed for the production 
of a tree. The botanists call them perennial plants, because they con- 
tinue their existence through the years. Vegetables of this class do not 
build up their massy structures, composed of concentric layers of solid 
fiber cells, with the rapidity of the fungi, some of which will evolve mil- 
lions of their cells in a few hours, visibly enlarging while we behold. 

Nor can the trees be compared, in iheir periods of growth and the 
quickness of their cash returns, with the familiar tillage-crops of the 
agriculturist. The weeks and months needed for the production and 
perfecting of garden and farm crops are represented by the decades and 
centuries of years reqftiired for clothing the denuded surface with forest 
growths of mature and useful size. It is, therefore, high time to begin 
the work. 

Be not discouraged, however. Trees grow fast enough. One of the 
classic writers of the age, who fully appreciated trees, put his own senti- 
ments into the mouth of one of his rustic characters when he wrote : " Be 
aye sticking in a tree, Jock, it will be growing the whiles ye are sleeping." 

Those of us who are now past middle life, no doubt many of you now 
present, can point to noble trees which have grown within your own 
recollection; some of them, perhaps, were planted by your own hands. 
Strange as it may be, however, it seems nevertheless true, that old 
men, those who can not expect to see nor to reap the fruits of their 



labors in forestry, are the most energetic tree planters, rather than 
those just entering upon life, with a bright future opening up to them 
decades of prospective enjoj'ment, and with a reasonable expectation of 
life even comparable to the term necessary for the development of a use- 
ful tree. Old men are proverbially the tree-planters everywhere. 

In regard to their periods of development, there is a great diversity 
among trees ; some have a brief rotation. The coppice growths in Eu- 
ropean forestry are often utilized in periods of ten or fifteen years. In 
our OAvn country, too, we have many trees of short rotation, and some of 
the most useful and most profitable trees are of this character. 

The black locust may be harvested after it has grown from twenty to 
thirty years. 

The catalpa speciosa, in the same period, will make good cross ties and 
fence posts. 

The ailanthus very soon attains a useful size, and for certain purposes 
has been very highly commended, both in this country and in Europe. 
Professor C. S. Sargent is advising its extensive plantation, and some 
years ago it was spoken of as the most promising tree for the arid plains 
of the south-west. 

The forests of Scotch pine in Germany are allowed sixty years to reach 
their useful size for fuel and for timbers. 

The birch there reaches its maturity in about half a century. 

The willow, used for charcoal, needed in the manufacture of gun -powder, 
may be cut after growing twenty years, or even less. 

Chestnut, in its second growth, is most profitably cut every twenty or 
twenty five years. 

The beautiful wood of the wild cherry soon reaches a profitable siie 
for many purposes, though for saw-logs and lumber the trees should be 
larger. 

Many individual trees, planted by the pioneers upon the broad plains 
of Nebraska, within the few years that white men have occupied the so- 
called " American desert," have already attained to useful size, and will 
yield each a cord of fire-wood to cheer their owners. While the census re- 
ports represent the extent of wood lands in Ohio as covering about one- 
third of its total area, which is a full ratio for lands situated like ours, 
we are not informed as to its condition. The skillful forester, however, 
•annot fail to observe that these tracts are very far from being in a con- 
dition to yield the best results, either economically or in their influence 
upon the climate and water courses of the adjacent regions, and he finds 
them much less satisfactory in regard to their own imj)rovement and 
perpetuation by succession. 



8 

Nearly all our wood-lands have been culled severely, robbed of their 
most valuable products and species ; they are rarely in a condition for 
natural reproduction. In many cases they have been carefully cleared up, 
aye, charred up by the removal of all their undergrowth, both of bushes and 
of young forest trees, and they are even deprived of nature's own favor- 
ite carpeting, composed of the fallen spray, the leaves, the logs, with the 
mosses and lichens that feed upon these decaying tissues. Ail these 
make up an admirable mulching material, that prevents evaporation, 
and which receives and retains the fallen rain, which quietly sinks into 
the mellow soil beneath, but which, when falling upon the bared surface 
of cleared lands, quickly escapes in rushing and destructive torrents. 
Some very neat and would-be careful and economical farmers, after thus 
cleaning up their wood-lands, attempt to render them profitable by lay- 
ing them down to grass, and then use the woods as pasture fields. Very 
beautiful they are considered by the poet, but not by the forester, who 
sees in all this but the garnished tomb of the trees. 

Yes, my friends, the time has indeed arrived when we, as a people 
possessing a full share of common sense, ought to realize the absolute 
necessity for devoting a portion of our energies and intelligence to the 
conservation and care of our sylvan treasures, and this will be followed 
by planting anew the waste tracts, and untillable hillsides, and corners, 
or rocky ledges, with suitable trees. 

We should plant forest trees for ornament to the landscape. We should 
plant them for shelter to our crops, our cattle, and ourselves. 

Trees should be planted to guard against the failure of the water sup- 
ply of the country. 

Woods should be preserved for their influence in regulating the tem- 
perature and humidity of the atmosphere, for it is established by long 
continued observations made at the forestal stations of Europe, that the 
woods are cooler in summer and warmer in winter, and that they contain 
more moisture when compared with tracts of open lands in the same 
regions. 

Finally, we should plant forests were it even for their use, and for the 
valuable products they yield for our consumption in the multifarious 
demands of civilized life. 

In all this we are forced to acknowledge our ignorance as to the best 
means of beginning this new industry — this new and important branch 
of agriculture. We are brought to a stand by the grave question of 
How TO DO IT ? 

The Rev. Frederick Starr, of St. Louis, in a very excellent article pre- 
senting the urgent need for the preservation of our 'forests, which ap- 



9 

peared in the United States Agricultural Report for 18(>6, appeals for 
Government aid, in lands and appropriations, to support and carry on 
suitable nurseries and forest plantations for the common good, as exem- 
plars of such a character as no private individual can afford. 

More recently some of yourselves, joined by hundreds of earnest men 
in very many of the States, memorialized Congress to send a suitable and 
well-informed commissioner to Europe to gather up important and valu- 
able information that should be adapted to our conditions and wants, 
wnich might enable us to emulate in our own country the perfected 
plans of their admirable systematic forestry management. Though 
urgently and persistently presented to the Senate and House Commit- 
tees, those bodies could not be persuaded to report upon the bills and 
memorials laid before them. 

It may well be asked, Why should not this important subject be re- 
ferred to those great institutions founded upon the Government land- 
grants for the endowments of agricultural and mechanical colleges f This 
has already been urged, and a few of them are paying some attention to 
forestry and tree- planting. 

Some of )'0U now present may recollect that a similar convention of 
agrit3ulturists, assembled in this chamber in 1§72, did me the honor to 
li.rten to a set of resolutions begging the managers of our own Agricultural 
College to take the preliminary steps toward the teaching of forestry by 
beginning the establishment of an arboretum upon a part of their exten- 
sive grounds here at the Capital of Ohio, where, eventually, all the 
woody plants possible to the soil might be grown, and be ever open to 
the inspection of students and interested visitors. 

Even at this late date I feel impelled to record the gratifying circum- 
stance that the Convention of 1(S72 did itst-lf credit by heartily endorsing 
the offered resolutions and to acknowledge that the effort of that day, 
though barren in tangible or visible results upon the broad acres of the 
college farm, was not absolutely a case of wasted efibrt in the cause, nor 
of love's labor lost. 

There is now undoubtedly a more encouraging outlook for the patriotic 
statesman, in this direction, as manifested in the increased interest felt 
by many in the subject of forestry. This is seen in the daily and agri- 
cultural press, and in the fact that the topic under discussion should 
have been put upon the programme for this meeting, and, my good 
friends let me add, in the marked attention and apparent interest you 
have shown in this impel feet response to the question before us, and to 
which query is rendered the decided affirmative response. 

Yes I yes., truly and most emphatically, the tinu has fully come when we, the 
people of Ohio, should plant trees for timber. 



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